Rotatable trigger guard for firearms



A ril 1, 1952 E. M. HARVEY ROTATABLE TRIGGER GUARD FOR FIREARMS Filed April 28, 1949 Patented Apr. 1, 1952 ROTATABLE TRIGGER GUARD. FOR FIREARMS Earle M. Harvey, Agawam,"Mass., assignor to the United States of Americarasrepresented by the Secretary. of". War

Application April 28, 1949, Serial N0.90,214

.(Granted un'derthe act of March 3,.1883, as amended'April'30, 1928; 370 '0. G. 757) 3 Claims.

1'11 7 .llhe-invention described hereinv may be manufactured and usedv by or. for the Government for .governmental purposeswithout the payment of eanyroyalty thereon.

.This -invention relates to trigger guards for .firearms and more particularly to -a construction w-herein the trigger-guard can be rotated laterally with .respect .to the longitudinal axis of the .i'irearm.

.It:hasbeen determined that heavy fingerless 'mittens afford thegreatest degree of protection .to .thehands extremely cold artic weather. Theuse:"of such handgear,-however, introduces difficulty in manipulating the'triggers found in .iirearms having the conventional fixed'trigger :gguard.

g-Attempts to provide-suitable means for overcomingsuch difiiculty haverheretofore consisted in .the .attachment of an additional assembly :designedto-be 'carriedseparately. from the gun. :Theutility of 1 such; separate "devices was limited in; practice by accidental lossfdamage; or bybeting ideliberately' discarded .to' reduce 'the weight loadzzcarried;byi'the individual soldier.

Accordingly, it. is :an object of this invention to provide means for exposing a firearm trigger by'movingthe trigger guard associated therewith out of its normal trigger-protecting position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide: meansfor looking a swinging trigger guard in either a trigger-exposing position or in a conventional trigger-protecting position.

It is stillanother'object of this invention to provide a trigger guard capable of being rotated toatrigger-exposing position and yet lie within ".the :ve'rtioal planeformed -by'the sides'of the weapon.

The specific nature of theinvention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a right side elevational view ofthe trigger guard in the conventional trigger-protecting position.

Fig. 2 is a perspective left side view of the trigger guard in the position shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the trigger guard rotated to the trigger-exposing position.

' Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the trigger guard of this invention allows grasping of the trigger when a heavy fingerless mitten is worn.

Although 1 here shown in connection with a firearm of the type disclosed in my copending front face of slot I3. guard 8 is provided with 'a rectangular.transpatent application Serial No.f75,291 dated February.11, 1949,.it. should be understood thatthe trigger guardconstruction of this invention" is equally applicable to .any.'firearm provided wit a conventional trigger and trigger guard.

There-is shown in.Fig..1, a trigger housing 5 having. a triggerv 6 pivotally pinned thereto, and a trigger guard 8 rotatably-secured to housing 5 in amanner to be explained.

The bottom portion of trigger housing5 .is provided with .an .arcuately shaped opening 9 into which the finger-engaging, portion of trigger 6 extends. Opening'9 forms a front and rear depending projection Land II, respectively,'in housing 5. A longitudinally extendingboss I2 is integrallyv formed on the left side of rear projection I I and a slot l3 extends transversely through both boss I2 and projection II. Boss I2. is provided with a hole I4 therethrough in which a pin I5is fixedly secured by any suitable means. A rectangular rib I6 extends transversely along the front of projection IIl.

Trigger guard 8 is of conventional shapeand is rotatablysecured at its front end to housing 5 by means of a pin I? which extendsthrou'gh 'front projection If! and through the leftend of transverse rib I6 thereon. "The rearend of trigger guard 8 is formed with .an upstanding 'rectangular plate I8 which extends into slot 13 and is rotatably secured'therein by means of .pin I5. A spring I9 surrounds pin I5 and is located'in abutting relationship between plate I8 and'the The front end of trigger verse groovelZfl which is arranged to cooperate with rib. I6 on. housing v5.

In the conventional position of trigger guard '8 illustrated .in Figs.;1 and 2, groove 20 atfthe front end thereof engages rib l6 and is locked thereto through the action of spring I9 which biases guard 8 rearwardly. However, when the operator is wearing heavy fingerless mittens or is unable for some other reason to convenient- 1y grasp trigger 6, guard 8 may be rotated out of the way of trigger 6. To accomplish such rotation, guard 8 is first pushed forwardly against the bias of spring I 9 to disengage groove 20 from rib I5. Then by swinging trigger guard 8 to the left, it can be rotated for approximately degrees at which time groove 20 once again engages rib I6 and is locked thereto as a result of the bias of spring I9. In this rotated position as shown in Fig. 3, the outline of the inside surface of guard 8 is aligned with and adjacent to the arcuate surface of opening 9 thereby permitting easy access to trigger '6. Furthermore, as a result of the 180 degree rotation, trigger guard 8 does not protrude beyond the sides of the fiream and consequently is not subject to damage in the event of accidental dropping or other rough handling. A hole is provided in guard 8, as shown at 2|, for the insertion of a suitable tool or the tip of a cartridge in order to facilitate the forward pushing movement required to disengage trigger guard groove from trigger housing rib I6. To return guard {3 to its conventional position, it is merely necessary to proceed in the manner above described except that rotation will be from left to right.

Thus there is here provided simple yet positive means for rotating a trigger guard out of the way of a trigger so that the latter may be grasped even though the operator of the firearm is wearing heavy fingerless mittens. More over, the construction of this invention is such that the trigger guard is automatically locked in either the conventional trigger-protecting position or the rotated position.

I claim:

1. In a firearm having a trigger and a trigger housing, the latter being provided with an arcuate opening at the bottom thereof into which the finger-engaging portion of the trigger extends, the combination of, an arcuate trigger guard having upwardly extending front and rear end portions rotatably secured to the trigger housing and arranged to straddle the arcuate opening therein, said trigger guard being thereby mounted for 180 degree movement between a trigger-protecting position wherein the inner surface of said trigger guard is diametrically opposed to the arcuate surface of the opening in the trigger housing and a trigger-exposing position wherein the inner surface of said trigger guard is parallel with and adjacent to the arcuate surface of the opening in the trigger housing, said trigger guard in either of said two positions arranged to lie within the outline formed by the sides of the firearm, means on the trigger housing and on said trigger guard arranged for cooperating engagement when said trigger guard is in either of said two positions, and resilient means for biasing said trigger guard rearwardly into said cooperating engagement with the trigger housing.

2. In a firearm having a trigger, the combination of, a trigger housinghaving an arcuate opening in the underside thereof for exposing the lower end of the trigger, a substantially arcuate trigger guard normally arranged to complete said trigger housing opening so as to encircle the trigger, said trigger housing having a transverse slot rearwardly of said opening and a transverse rib forwardly thereof, said trigger guard having an upstanding rear end portion arranged to extend into said trigger housing slot and an upstanding front end portion having a transverse groove therein arranged to engage said trigger housing rib upon alignment therewith, pin means for rotatably securing said trigger guard to said trigger housing for lateral movement between a trigger-protecting position and a trigger-exposing position, and resilient means between the front wall of said trigger housing slot and the inner face of said upstanding rear end portion of said trigger guard for automatically biasing said trigger guard groove into engagement with said trigger housing rib upon occurrence of said alignment therebetween to lock said trigger guard to said trigger housing in either of said two positions.

3. In a firearm having a trigger housing and a pivotal trigger depending therefrom, the combination of an arcuate trigger guard having upwardly extending front and rear end portions, pin means for rotatably securing said portions and thereby said trigger guard to the underside of the trigger housing for lateral swinging movement about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the firearm, said trigger guard being thereby mounted for rotation between a conventional trigger-protecting \position wherein said trigger guard extends around and beneath the trigger and a trigger-exposing position wherein said trigger guard is reversed 180 thereby permitting unobstructed access to the trigger from the underside of the firearm, said pin means cooperating with said trigger guard to permit longitudinal sliding movement thereof relative to the trigger housing, said trigger guard front end portion having a transverse groove therein, a transverse rib on the trigger housing arranged for mating engagement in said trigger guard groove, and resilient means urging said trigger guard rearwardly whereby said groove therein engages with said trigger housing rib to releasably lock said trigger guardin either of said two positions.

EARLE M. HARVEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 965,386 Hansen July 26, 1910 2,401,482 I-Iendey June 4, 1946 2,461,574 Skinner et al. Feb. 15, 1949 2,476,904 Perry July 19, 1949 

